As a PR pro, you have several sets of guidelines you are encouraged to adhere to. The PRSA Code of Ethics is only one of many rulebooks for personal and professional behaviors. The organization you work for, clients, religious/spiritual organizations, families, and communities all have expectations for how you should think and act. Some are formal and written down for all to see. Others we learn from watching others.
Balancing the demands of all these rules we want to follow can pull us in opposite directions. The easiest example of these conundrums is how service to job or clients clashes with our values related to family time.
And sometimes the formal guidelines vary somewhat (or a great deal) from those in practice, and that’s another area where we bump into conflicts.
It is the stuff of corporate lore that Enron had a 64-page, beautifully bound Code of Ethics Handbook. At some organizations, ethics codes aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. In practice, Enron’s leaders and employees regularly violated the company’s published Human Rights Values. Among highlights are this:
Values
Respect: We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don't belong here.
Integrity: We work with customers and prospects openly, honestly and sincerely.
What if your job expects you to violate standards held by your family or faith? Which takes precedent for you? You have to feed and house your family, but are you willing to deviate from your personal values to “go along” with work requests?
What if you see that your employer’s or client’s practices are not aligned with their professed values and ethical standards? Do you—and other constituents—have a pathway for pointing that out and having those issues addressed?
We PR pros must be the bridge joining external audiences with internal decision-makers. WE must ensure we are upholding our organization’s ethical values, while adhering to PRSA’s code.
-Melissa May, MA, APR
PRSA San Antonio Ethics Chair
